Football and the Boundaries of History - Critical Studies in Soccer

The essays in this volume use football to create a dialogue between history and other disciplines, including art criticism, philosophy, and political science. The study of football provides fertile ground for interdisciplinary initiatives and this volume explores the disciplinary boundaries that are shifting 'beneath our feet.'  Traditional disciplines in the humanities and social sciences have come to embrace diverse research methodologies and the increased scholarly attention to football over the past decade reflects both the startling popularity of the sport and the trends in historical scholarship that have been termed the 'cultural,' 'interpretive,' or 'linguistic' turns. This volume includes work on gender, sexuality, and ethnicity, which have challenged disciplinary fault-lines.


Brenda Elsey is Associate Professor of Latin American history at Hofstra University, USA. Her work on politics and popular culture has appeared in the Journal of Social History and Radical History Review.  She is the author of Citizens and Sportsmen: Fútbol and Politics in Twentieth Century Chile and the forthcoming Futbolera: Women and Sport in Latin America.

Stanislao G. Pugliese is Professor of European history and the Queensboro UNICO Distinguished Professor of Italian and Italian American Studies at Hofstra University, USA. He is the author of Bitter Spring: A Life of Ignazio Silone and is working on a new book, Dancing on a Volcano in Naples: Scenes from the Siren City.